Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Hilltop Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTH) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $40.00.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HTH. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Hilltop in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Hilltop from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Hilltop from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hilltop news, Director Rhodes Bobbitt sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.80, for a total transaction of $194,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 25,641 shares in the company, valued at approximately $994,870.80. This represents a 16.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,555 shares of company stock worth $2,087,714. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hilltop

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HTH. State Street Corp raised its stake in Hilltop by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,546,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,769,000 after acquiring an additional 24,912 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Hilltop by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop in the second quarter valued at about $250,000. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hilltop in the second quarter valued at about $592,000. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hilltop in the second quarter worth about $88,000. 57.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hilltop Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE HTH opened at $38.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 14.23 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.79. Hilltop has a 52 week low of $30.78 and a 52 week high of $40.41.

Hilltop (NYSE:HTH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.14. Hilltop had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company had revenue of $315.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.18 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hilltop will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hilltop Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Hilltop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Hilltop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.59%.

Hilltop Company Profile

Hilltop Holdings Inc is a Dallas-based financial services holding company that provides banking, mortgage lending and securities services through its operating subsidiaries. Its businesses serve individuals, businesses, financial institutions, government entities and other organizations.

PlainsCapital Bank, Hilltop’s banking subsidiary, offers commercial and consumer banking products, including loans, deposit accounts, treasury management and wealth management services. The bank primarily serves customers in Texas through its branch network and related financial services operations.

Hilltop’s other principal businesses include PrimeLending, a residential mortgage lender that originates and services home loans through a nationwide platform, and HilltopSecurities, a broker-dealer that provides investment banking, public finance, institutional brokerage, fixed-income trading and advisory services.